Privacy advocates call for toll reforms

Friday

Mar 31, 2017 at 4:11 PMApr 3, 2017 at 10:47 AM

Months after the Massachusetts Department of Transportation replaced manned tollbooths with a new electronic tolling system, some lawmakers and privacy advocates are calling for new restrictions on the collection of digital data from E-ZPass transponders.

Gerry Tuoti Wicked Local Newsbank Editor

Months after the Massachusetts Department of Transportation replaced manned tollbooths with a new electronic tolling system, some lawmakers and privacy advocates are calling for new restrictions on the collection of digital data from E-ZPass transponders.

“If you have an E-ZPass transponder, it’s tracking your whereabouts wherever you go,” said state Rep. Marjorie Decker, D-Cambridge. “Why does the state need to know your whereabouts? They don’t.”

Decker is the lead House sponsor of a bill, H.768, that would amend Massachusetts law to prohibit the state from using toll-collection technology to identify a vehicle’s location for virtually any purpose other than collecting toll payments or issuing toll bills.

MassDOT policy already limits the purpose of collecting data through the tolling system, according to information the department provided.

“Tolling data is collected for the purpose of accurately charging and collecting tolls,” MassDOT spokesman Patrick Marvin said in an email.

When a car drives under a toll gantry, the electronic system records its speed and license plate number. Cameras record still photographs and videos MassDOT has said that data collection is necessary to ensure proper billing and tolling. Transportation officials have repeatedly vowed the technology wouldn’t be used for other purposes, such as catching speeders.

The system also has a “hot list” feature that is capable of sending real-time alerts to law enforcement when a car with a designated license plate or E-ZPass transponder drives under a toll gantry. According to MassDOT policy, the “hot list” is intended to only be used for time-sensitive public safety emergencies, such as Amber Alerts.

Since Massachusetts tolls went cashless last Oct. 28, approximately 86 percent of toll payments have been made through E-ZPass transponders. When a car without a transponder passes under a gantry, the tolling system records the vehicle’s license plate number and sends a bill in the mail. Drivers without E-ZPass pay a higher toll rate. Rates vary by tolling location.

The data collected by the system is not subject to the state’s public records law.

H.768 would make it illegal for MassDOT to provide another agency or entity with data collected by the tolling system without a court warrant.

Kade Crockford, director of the Technology for Liberty program at the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, said it used to be a “basic tenet” that government entities wouldn’t track people without having probable cause that they were violating the law.

“It’s critical that the state Legislature pass a law to protect Massachusetts residents’ digital privacy,” Crockford said.

The ACLU has also expressed concerns with security of the data and a MassDOT policy of retaining the information for seven years,

“That strikes me as an exceedingly long time,” Crockford said.

Decker said she isn’t accusing any state agency of wrongdoing, but was disappointed by what she perceives as a lack of transparency in the decision-making process.

“It’s not a matter of ‘yes, it’s the right thing,’ or ‘no, it’s the wrong thing,’” Decker said. “You have to have a very public conversation … for the most part, it’s been bureaucrats who’ve made those decisions. It’s not how good government should operate.”